MEN WHO MADE THE “ MOVIES.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17352, 17 May 1924, Page 20

MEN WHO MADE THE “ MOVIES.”

CINEMA FOUNDED BY A CARPENTER AND A CONJUROR!

It was on March 10, 189‘J, that the first motion picture to “tell a story” was exhibited (says a London paper.) Previously the “movies” Look the form of what was known as the Kinetoscope, invented by Ediwn, by which a length of ordinary photographic film was run rapidly in front of a powerful lamp, and the resultant • animated” pictures flung on a screen. There were hlso the Eideloseope ami the Vitascope. two later developments of the same idea, THE FIRST FILM STORY. Three years before this a young man named Black ten. who had emigrated to America from Sheffield and w ho had worked for a time as a carpenter, was commissioned by an editor, to whom he had applied for work, to interview' Edison. The great inventor showed the young reporter a 50ft film called “The 'Black Diamond Express,’’ which was simply a picture of a train in motion. The film left an indelible impression on young Blackton’s mind. Realising that the ”111011011 pictures” had great possibilities. Blackton sought the views of a friend named A. K. Smith, a native of Faversham, Kent, who was a conjurer with a taste for making electrical experiments. With a capital of £l5O they bought a cinema outfit- and devoted their leisure to evolving a music-hall consisting of short scenic films, which at first were received with favour by the public. But the crudity of the materials and apparatus caused many accidents and breakdowns, and. coupled with the appearance of a rival named Rock, the “bioscope” industry at

this period all but came to a premature end. Finally Rock who died seven years ago. leaving £2,000.000 —was induced to join the two partners, and a fresh start was made under the title of “The Vitagraph Film Company.” The world's first film story showed a man visited in his room by a ghost, which frightened him into shaking with abject terror. The name of this pioneer “movie” actor is not recorded, but "The Haunted House.” as the story was called, was an undoubted success, and the forerunner of an endless succession of photoplays, from brief three-reel stories to the great “all star” super-produc-tions o’f the present day. By this time people began to have a wider appreciation of the possibilities of the cinema, and Smith and Blackton launched out on more ambitious lines.. The sensation of 1904 was a film entitled “The Life of George Washington.” followed by “The Life of Moses,” which ran to the then extraordinary lenth five reels,-each taking fifteen minutes in the showing. Exhibitors complaind that this was far too long, and many insisted on showing the film in instalments. Theqr, only seventeen years ago. the Vitagraph Company produced a film in which figured a number of famous stage “stars”—and the future of the “movies” was assured. About this time Blackton hit on the idea of putting the players’ name on the screen, and in this way cinema “stars'* came into being. Maurice Costello. .T&hn Bunny, Flora Finch, and Mr and Mrs Sidney Drew were introduced by Smith and Blackton, whose business soon' grew into a concern, having a turnover of £1,000.000 a year.